HUNTSVILLE, Tenn. — Former Senate majority leader Howard H. Baker Jr. was remembered Tuesday for his ability to bridge political divides in Washington while also establishing the Republican Party as a statewide force in Tennessee.
The Republican’s 18-year tenure in the Senate drew accolades from both sides of the aisle. Baker, who died Thursday at age 88, is known for cutting to the core of the 1973 Watergate hearings when he asked of then-President Richard Nixon: ‘‘What did the president know and when did he know it?’’
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander eulogized his former boss at a funeral at the First Presbyterian Church in the former Senate majority leader’s rural hometown of Huntsville on the Cumberland Plateau near the Kentucky state line.
Alexander described Baker as an ‘‘eloquent listener’’ and ‘‘the great conciliator’’ for his ability to gather disputing senators into a room, listen for a while, ‘‘then his summary of the discussion would become the senators’ agreement.’’
By the time Nixon resigned in 1974, Baker was a household name with a reputation for fairness and smarts that stuck throughout a long political career. Besides being Senate majority leader from 1981 to 1985, he later became chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan and one of the GOP’s elder statesmen.
Vice President Joe Biden, who attended the service, said in an op-ed in the Knoxville News Sentinel, ‘‘He was honorable, he was tough, and he was fair — traits that served him well as he took on two of the most challenging jobs in Washington.’’
Dignitaries attending the funeral included former vice president Al Gore, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, and Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee.